Street car and station indicator



' G. A. KARG STREET CAR AND STATION INDICATOR Filed Nov. 6, 1924 s=Sheets-Sheet 1 Ge owe/A. K2115 2351; m aumg Oct. 27, 1925- 1,553,983

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G. A. KARG STREET CAR AND STATION INDICATOR Filed Nov. 6, 1924 sSheets-Shoot :s

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GEORGE A. KARG, F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. I

STREET CAR AND STATION'INDICATOR.

Application filed November 6, 1924. Serial No. 748,006.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. Kano, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county ofQueens and State of New York, have invented. certain new and usefulImprovements in Street Car and Station Indicators, of which thefollowing is a specification.

'This invention relates to a novel street and station indicator forcars, particularly street railway cars, subway cars and the cars ofelevated railroads or the like, and it is the principal object of theinvention to provide such an indicator permitting of a simple operationand enabling passengers to ascertain at a glance, the name of thestation or street at which the next stop will be made.

@My experience has shown that it is at present very diflicult,especially when the cars of' a train are crowded, or only one conductorisemployed to attend a number of cars to obtain quickly informationdesired concerning the next stop to bemadea My invention efiectivelydoes away with these disadvantages and permits every passenger toascertain at a glance the name of a street or station which the car ortrain approaches. a f

Another object of the invention is the provision of means for operatingthe indicator on a moving train or car without interference with thetrafiic and without interference with the proper operation by authorizedpersons.

Another object of the invention is the'p'rovision of a street andrailway car indicator allowing the automatlc coupling and un coupling ofthe carsof a train without the necessary special attention attendantthereto.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of an indicatorof this type. the indicating features of which are visible from allpoints of a car and are enclosed within a protectivecover. I I

It is also one of the objects of my invention to select the location ofthe indicator operating means to suit the particular make of cars usedand 'the'particular makeu of a train, so that in one type of cars theoperating means for the indicator are located on the platforms, whilewith another type they may be located at the ceiling of the car or atany desired and suitable places too numerous to be specificallymentioned.

floor 19 of the car.

These and other objects of my invention material part of this disclosureFigure 1 is a side elevation of a railway oar equipped wlth an indlcatorconstructed according to the present invention, the type of car istheone at present in use in the municipal subways of the city of New York.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the indicator constructedaccording to the present inventionon a car preferably used by theInterborough Railway in the subways of New York.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of a street and station indicatorconstructed according to the invention, partly in section, on line 33 ofFigure 1.

Figure 4: is a section on line 44 of Figure 3. V i

Figure 5 is a top plan view of an 'operating handle. I

Figure 6 shows in section the lower ends of two adjoining cars of atrain, partly in. section and illustrates the manner of cou-. pling theindicating devices on several cars if they are to beoperated from asingle point,

Figure 7 illustrates a modified form of the device automaticallyoperated from a stationary finger secured to the station platform,pa rtly in section. I

Figure 8 i? a section on line 88 of Figure 7;

In the type of cars illustrated Figure l and generally indicated by thenumeral 10,

having two sliding central doors 11 and'lQ. the indicating device, thecasing of which is generally indicated by the numeral 13, is supportedby a framecheaply made of piping or the like and having vertical posts14, 1'5 connectedon top by across-tube 16. One frame is erected oneither side of the car, and the posts 14 and 15 are cross-connected ontop by tubular cross rods or pieces of pipe Hand 18. The lower endsofthe pairs of posts 14 and 15 are supported by the j 'As shown inFigure 3, vertica'loperating rods are provid d within the posts 14;, andas'the'constr'uot/ion onb'ot h sides are identical, it will besuflicient to describe one for the understanding of both, they can beoperated from either end.

The rods 20 extend with their lower ends through the floor 19 of the car10 and rotate in suitable bearings of a bracket 21 secured to theunderside of a car bottom 19, and carry at their lower ends bevel gears22 in mesh with suitable bevel gears 23 on horizontal shafts 24. Posts20 carry also, at their extreme lower ends, bevel gears 25 in mesh withbevel gears 26 of shafts 27 disposed at a right angle to shafts 2 1.Shafts 27 are journalled iii suitable bearings of brackets 21 and carry,at their opposite ends, bevel gears 28 in mesh with bevel gears 29 atthe lower ends of vertical shafts 30 guided in suitable guide sleeves onbrackets 21, and encased in pipe lengths 31 closed at the top by caps 32through which the upper ends of shafts 30 extend and receive removableoperating handles 33 of a construction clearly illustrated in Fig. 5. Asthere shown, the rounded outer ends of the handles 38 carry indicatingfingers 3 1 and marks 85 on the caps 3 L indicate the proper positionofthe handles when attachment is made to the posts 30.

Within the casing 13, as illustrated in Figure i, an upper roller 36 anda lower roller 37 are rotatably arranged to rest with their ends in theend walls of the casing, and a web of fabric 38 is unwinding from one ofthe rollers and simultaneously winding it self upon the other in thcwell known manner, or vice versa. The shaft of roller 36 carries a gear39 in mesh with a smaller gear Z10 on a stub shaft 41, andthe gear 4:0in turn meshes with a driving'gear 42 on a shaft 43 in mesh with agearon the shaft of roller 87. The operation of the gearing from theoperating rod 20 is effected by meansof a universal joint, generallyindicated 45, havingits rod 46 connected to shaft 20 in the well knowncustomary manner. The web 38 carries suitable inscriptions idei'iticalon both of its'sides, as for instance as shown in Figure 3 14th street,and visible -th-rough the glass or other transparent windows 4-7, 18provided. on the casi 11g 13.

The type of device above described is used with the cars illustrated inFigure 1, and if the indicating devices of a number of es s of a trainare to be operated from a single handle 33, the shafts 24 are extendedlengthwise of the cars and suspended from the car bottoms by meansof-brackets 21' from which sleeves 49"aresuspended,one of which issplit, as at 50, and "a clip joint 51 of pin and slot constructionpermits cou pli'ngof theends of the shafts 2 1 within the split sleevewhen the cars are coupled, automa-ticall-y or otherwise. It is to benoted that the elements l9=each include universal joii1t eonnectiin$,thus permitting coupling irrespective of minor lateral or horizontalinequalities of adjacent cars.

In the type of cars illustrated in Figure 2, the posts 31 are erected inthe car vestibules and the indicator 13 is operated from the operatinghandle on post 31 in the above described manner by means of rods 24; andthe gears 22 and 23.

The operation of the device will be clear from the above descriptionwithout further details.

In the form illustrated in Figures 7 and 8 the indicator isautomatically operated when the train is leaving a station toautomatically indicate the name of the next following station or stop ofthe train.

As shown in Figure 7 the bracket 21 has a lower extension sleeve 52through which the lower end of post 30 is extended and car ries asubstantially triangular plate .53 adapted to come into contact with 'avfiinger 54 made from resilient material preferably rubber, and attachedto the lower part of a bracket 55, secured in a chamber 5-6 provided inthe lower part of the station platform 57. It will be clear that thefinger 54 must project for about six inches be yond the end of theplatform into the path of the plate 53. Suitable devices may be providedto prevent a turning of the indie cator for more than one step at eachoperation.

It will be clear that with this form of my device all connectingswitches will be dispensed with, as the finger on the platform operatesin succession, each indicator of the successive order of cars. In caseswhere the location of the platforms alternate from right to left or viceversa, such fingers must be arranged at both sides of the cars to engagethe respective station platform fingers. 3 r

It will be clear that changes may be made in the general arrangement andconstruction of the minor details of my invention without departing fromthe spirit of the same within the scope of the claims hereto appended.

Having ti 1 us desc ribed my invention what I claim as'new and dcsireto' secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A street and station indicator coniprisi-ug a means forsucoessiA-"ely displayingthe street and station names in their con"secutive order, a frame for supporting said indicator, operating rods inthe :posts of said. frame, a universal .jointadapted to be operated fromsaid rods :tooperate said dis play means, bevel gears at "the lower endsof said rods, shafts extending lengthwise of the car's, bevel gears -on-sagid shaft-s in mesh with said first named bevel gears, stub shafts atan angle to said first named shafts, and means formanu'ally rotatingsaidIastnained bevel gears to operate saidop era-ting rods from apredetermined point of a car.

2. In a street and station indicator, a frame, a plurality of postscomposing said frame, a plurality of operating rods in said posts, meansfor operating said operating rods from a predetermined point of a car,longitudinally extending operating rods suspended from the car bottomadapted to be operated from said means, a split sleeve on one pair oflongitudinally extending rods, and a pin and slot connection thereinadapted to couple the ends of the operating rods on two adjoining oarsupon the coupling of the same during the making up of a train.

' In Witness whereof I have aflixed my signature.

GEORGE A. KARG.

